𝔄𝔫 ℑ𝔫𝔣𝔦𝔫𝔦𝔱𝔶 𝔄𝔴𝔞𝔶 | Katsuki Bakugo x OC

Chapter 74 - An Infinity Away

Winter white came later this year than the last. If you ask Katsuki, he'd say it's a blessing. For Hina, the fact not a single snowflake has fallen from the skies yet, made her both restless and a bit sad.

Because white winters—white Christmases to be precise—were something she'd look forward to with her family. And now that Katsuki was obviously her new family, she wished that this year would also be blessed with the frost laden roads, and snowmen soldiers on every corner and every doorstep.

But she couldn't control the weather; she knew Katsuki knew of some heroes who could but she didn't want a synthetic white Christmas and never bothered to tell him of her preference. Knowing him, despite the way he refuses to admit how much of an effect she has on him, he'd go and figure a way to make it snow in this part of town tonight.

Instead, she tried to make the interior of their home more festive. The issue was convincing Katsuki to forgo his clean aesthetic for something more cozy and bright. As the grays got eclipsed by bright reds and deep greens, his mood started to sour. He kept grumbling how he could see Deku in every corner of his house, how he found celebrating the birth of Jesus useless when he wasn't even Christian.

Hina dubbed him as the true Christmas grinch—something the media dubbed Katsuki years ago—when decorating the large pine tree she hauled in a week ago. That day too was a day to recount.

She'd requested Izuku's help of all people, convincing him that Katsuki had finally acquiesced to having a semblance of Christmas at his home. When they reached his home, opening the bright red door that greeted them at the entrance, both Hina and Izuku witnessed a rare occurrence: Katsuki belting out the All Might Christmas jingle while pulling out a tray of gingerbread cookies from the oven.

When he turned around and saw the audience attending his in home concert, he quickly exploded into his normal agitated pique. According to Izuku, Hina had witnessed a glimpse of Katsuki's high school self right before the war. His hands released small pops of explosions while his eyes popped out in dramatic angles and his voice was scratchy—one that sounded more like an agitated chihuahua than the growling wolf she was more accustomed to.

As she recalled the way he threatened to smoke the tree she couldn't contain the giggle in her chest.

"What is it?" he gruffed, tucking his chin in the space between her neck and shoulder.

His voice was warm against the shell of her ear. He sat behind her, holding her close as they cuddled on the corner of the L-shaped sofa.

"Nothing," she said, "Just thinking about how much you hate Christmas."

He scoffed, squeezing her tightly in his arms.

"I'm officially labeled the hero Grinch in the media. I don't what bullshit they'd be spoutin' if they saw the circus our place has become."

"It's not a circus!"

"With all the lights everywhere, ya could've fooled me."

"Shush," she sighed into his hold, smiling even with Katsuki complaining in her ear. "I know you like it more than you let on."

He grumbled some more, his hair tickling her temple; an as he cursed their empathy link, she could feel just how full and warm his heart was.

Suddenly, Katsuki's watch went off, the loud beep startling him from his skin. On the small screen, an emergency text from Deku popped up.

We've found Caper. We need to go now.

Below was a set of coordinates and a location on the map.

This was it. The heroes would finally be ahead of the NVA, handicapping them of their precious escape hatch.

Katsuki met Hina's gaze. Anxiety burned through his chest--her anxiety--and the left over smoke gave him a newfound courage to see this final thing through.